Grammar Teaching: Communicative or Grammar Translation

This issue concerning teaching grammar was a reminiscence of my English teacher, Mr. Hu, in senior high school. He was the teacher who insisted to build an all-English environment even in grammar class. That is to say, he taught grammar through communicative approach instead of grammar translation. By doing so, there was a serious consequence occurred: low-achievers felt frustrated for they couldn’t understand what Mr. Hu said. They almost wanted to give up learning during the process. On the contrary, it was quit beneficial for advanced students. As for me, I totally understood what he taught and learned a lot as well. However, under much pressure, Mr. Hu used grammar translation most of the time since a lot of parents complained to the school. According to this situation, it reminded me that I should use appropriate approach to different learners while teaching grammar. To conclude, it’s better to use grammar translation, teaching low-achievers. For advanced learners, teachers can attempt to adopt communicative approach only or integrate both grammar translation and communicative approaches.